SFF GEEK

GEEEK-G1-review

GEEEK G1 review – almost the perfect Mini-ITX PC case

Published on

in

, ,

by

The GEEEK G1 is the first aluminum PC case from Taiwanese-based GEEEK, so I got it in to review and take a closer look at. Let’s see how this new and budget-friendly small form factor case (SFF) holds up in real-world testing and a bit of Cyberpunk 2077.

Get to know the case

The GEEEK G1 is the first aluminum entry for the company, which has created some pretty impressive budget-friendly small form factor cases for some timesome time. The G1 takes on a very minimalistic look with a uni-body design with a single power button on the front.

The new case comes in two colors, silver, and black. I went with silver. It features 2.5mm 6061-T6 sandblasted anodized aluminum, with a metal stamped bracket holding all the components and acrylic side panels. The case is just slightly larger than the A50 Plus, coming in at 144 x 234 x 332mm (W x H x D), with a volume of 11.2 liters.

Just like the GEEEK A50 Plus, the G1 also has support for up to two 2.5″ drives, two-slot GPUs, and an SFX or SFX-L power supply. The case allows CPU coolers up to 66 mm in height to be used and up to four 120 mm fans, with two being 15 mm in height.

The case supports GPUs up to 320 mm long, 150 mm tall, and 50 mm wide. This improves the smaller budget options from GEEEK and allows AMD’s new RX 6800 and NVIDIA’s RTX 3080, 3070, and 3060 TI to fit in the case.

Building in the case

For an SFF case, the G1 is a breeze to build in. There is more than enough space to get the motherboard in and the graphics card. The only thing to note is the power supply mount is a little tight, making it harder to put in, but it means it won’t move. The PCIe riser cable is also a tight fit. You need to plug it into the motherboard then screw it into the case.

Moving onto the fans. I currently have three fans in the case, two 15 mm thick fans on the top and one full thick 25 mm fan. All of these fans are 120 mm. The top fans screw into a well thought out and easy to use bracket that makes getting the fans in and out of the case a breeze.

The bottom fan screws directly into the bottom of the case. This is positioned below the motherboard. The fourth fan, which I don’t have in the case, is a bit of a tight fit with the power supply cables, requiring a grill of some sort to keep them out.

To mount the SSDs, GEEEK created a mount for up to two 2.5″ drives. The mount screws in front of the power supply cover up some of the cables and put the SSDs on display. The mount does have a cutout for the SSD cables, but the top one is blocked by the power supply, making it a bit useless. Luckily two M.2 SSDs and a single 2.5″ SSD are enough for now.

The case design

The main reason I chose this case is for its minimalistic design. The rounder corners and the appearance of being produced out of a single piece of metal. This is the case with it, but you can see how costs are being kept slightly lower than the more expensive cases on the market.

You can see a seam where the one-piece has been joined together at the bottom of the case. On the inside, you can see the welding marks from doing this. This isn’t a bad thing as you don’t see it when the side panels are in. It would be nice if the future units have this smoothed out and maybe hidden altogether. The anodized coating on the case is a little rough for my liking as well.

None of the above-mentioned things aren’t a big deal, especially when you can pick this case up for $129. I really like the overall design of the case, and with that, it would be great if GEEEK made some metal side panels to match, rather than the acrylic ones.

The final decision

Now that I have been using the case since it was released, I have a few final thoughts to add. Building in the case was a great experience, the case and mounts have been well thought out, but a few things can be improved in the future, making the PCIe riser a little longer and adjusting the SSD mount.

When it comes to the design and the build quality overall, it is great to remember that you get what you paid for. As the case is a little cheaper than others on the market, the quality is also a little worse, but by no means bad.

If you are looking to get an SFF case that won’t blow the budget and has a premium feel and look, the G1 from GEEEK is perfect for you. If you don’t mind waiting a little longer, GEEEK is working on a new case, the G1 SE, which looks to fix some of the issues mentioned above.